The present invention relates to an improved steering unit for a boat, and more particularly to an improvement in a steering unit which includes an inner cable disposed within a push-pull control cable, one end thereof being secured to an outer peripheral surface of a disc rotatably mounted in a housing.
One of the steering units of this type, as are known in the art, is so constructed that a bend portion 18 of an end fitting 20 fitted to one end of an inner cable 4 is fixedly engaged in a hole provided in a disc and extending in the axial direction as shown in FIG. 1, and a helm or an outboard engine (hereinafter referred to as "a helm means") which is connected to the other end of the inner cable 4 is operated by pushing and pulling operations caused by the rotational movement of the disc. In general, a steering unit is subjected to considerable shock by repeated waves striking the helm means. Therefore, a corner 19 of the bend portion 18 will be fatigued from the repeated pushing and pulling operations of the inner cable 4 finally resulting in breakage at the corner 19. Thus, there is a fatal disadvantage in the conventional steering unit. Further, there are often generated cracks in the corner 19 during the bending process of the end fitting 20. These cracks are often invisible. Therefore, the above hazard cannot be eliminated readily.